EMERYVILLE, CA – September 6th – Sirlin Games’ revolutionary new fighting game Fantasy Strike is now available on Linux. This brings the current available platforms to PC, Mac and Linux (on sale now for $19.99 on Steam), with PS4 and Nintendo Switch versions on the way at full release in Q1 of 2019.

Fantasy Strike is a fighting game that has re-imagined the genre with its emphasis on elegance in gameplay as well as in user interface. The gameplay streamlines fighting games to their essence, making their depth more apparent and accessible. As a piece of software, Fantasy Strike aims to excel at features where others have struggled: a single click to challenge a friend, a single click to watch a friend play, best-in-class netcode (GGPO), fast loading times, and more.

The development team is led by Super Street Fighter 2: HD Remix lead developer and former fighting game pro David Sirlin. “For years I’ve been frustrated by the sorry state of usability in most fighting game software. You can’t even use the mouse in the PC version of Street Fighter 5—in 2018—and good luck challenging a friend,” Sirlin said.

The Linux version has cross-compatible netplay with the PC and Mac versions and comes shortly after a September update for Fantasy Strike that features new graphical updates and a new stage. Sirlin Games has consistently updated the game at least once a month throughout its development and plans to add more features each month until launch early next year.

CURRENT DEVELOPMENT STATUS

Fantasy Strike has been in development for over three years and is currently available for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam Early Access. Fantasy Strike’s launch roster includes 10 unique characters each with their own stage. Single player modes include Arcade (with fully-voiced story sequences and character endings), Daily Challenge and four Survival modes, as well as training mode, an interactive tutorial, and a “Learn” section that includes tutorial videos for all 10 playable characters. Multiplayer modes include Local Versus, Online Quick Match, and Friend Challenge/Spectate. Fantasy Strike launches on PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 and Nintendo Switch in early 2019.

About Sirlin Games

David Sirlin, lead designer of Street Fighter HD Remix, author of Playing to Win and a former pro fighting game player, helms Sirlin Games, an independent video game developer based in Emeryville, California that specializes in competitive multiplayer games.

Early Access Trailer:

Screenshots:

]]>http://linuxgamingnews.org/2018/09/06/fantasy-strike-now-available-on-linux/feed/0Valve Released “Steam Play” With Modified Wine Version!http://linuxgamingnews.org/2018/08/22/valve-released-steam-play-with-modified-wine-version/
http://linuxgamingnews.org/2018/08/22/valve-released-steam-play-with-modified-wine-version/#respondWed, 22 Aug 2018 06:33:47 +0000http://linuxgamingnews.org/?p=4944Valve released a (currently beta) “Steam Play” with a modified Wine version called Proton (which is free source and you can get it now from github).

Currently there are just several “officially supported” games, but much more will follow soon!

And if you can’t wait, you can try to still play it with the new Steam Play.

Introducing a new version of Steam Play

In 2010, we announced Steam Play: a way for Steam users to access Windows, Mac and Linux versions of Steam games with a single purchase. More than 3000 of the games that have been added to Steam after that point have included Linux support, with more titles being added every day. Since then, we’ve continued to look for ways to make more titles easily accessible to Linux users.

So, two years ago, we started an effort to improve the quality and performance of Windows compatibility solutions for Steam games. A lot of our work has been in the form of supporting Wine[www.winehq.org] and other existing compatibility projects. We have also been integrating these tools into the Steam client to provide the same simple plug-and-play experience offered by regular Linux games.

Our goal for this work is to let Linux Steam users enjoy easy access to a larger back catalog. We think it will also allow future developers to easily leverage their work from other platforms to target Linux. This would give them the option of focusing on areas that would make a meaningful experience difference for all users instead, such as supporting Vulkan[www.khronos.org].

As a result of this work, today we are releasing the Beta of a new and improved version of Steam Play to all Linux users! It includes a modified distribution of Wine, called Proton, to provide compatibility with Windows game titles. Here are some of the improvements it brings to the table:

Windows games with no Linux version currently available can now be installed and run directly from the Linux Steam client, complete with native Steamworks and OpenVR support.

DirectX 11 and 12 implementations are now based on Vulkan, resulting in improved game compatibility and reduced performance impact.

Fullscreen support has been improved: fullscreen games will be seamlessly stretched to the desired display without interfering with the native monitor resolution or requiring the use of a virtual desktop.

Improved game controller support: games will automatically recognize all controllers supported by Steam. Expect more out-of-the-box controller compatibility than even the original version of the game.

Performance for multi-threaded games has been greatly improved compared to vanilla Wine.

This goes hand-in-hand with an ongoing testing effort of the entire Steam catalog, in order to identify games that currently work great in this compatibility environment, and find and address issues for the ones that don’t. The initial set of supported games that we are enabling with this initial Beta release is as follows:

We will be enabling more titles in the near future as testing results and development efforts progress; in the meantime, enthusiast users are also able to try playing non-whitelisted games using an override switch in the Steam client. Going forward, users can vote for their favorite games to be considered for Steam Play using platform wishlisting.

Steam Play whitelisted games will not be offered for purchase or marked as supported on Linux on the Store during the initial Beta period.

Proton, the tool that Steam Play uses to provide Windows compatibility, contains a custom version of Wine as well as additional libraries developed alongside it. It’s fully open-source and available right now on GitHub[github.com]!

If you’re familiar with building open source projects, you can even make your own local builds of Proton; the Steam client has support for using those to run games in lieu of the built-in version. Join the discussion in the issue tracker and share your patches and testing results with the rest of the community!

Q: What is Proton exactly? How does it differ from normal Wine? Who worked on it?

Proton is a tool distribution based on a modified version of Wine. The included improvements to Wine have been designed and funded by Valve, in a joint development effort with CodeWeavers. Here are some examples of what we’ve been working on together since 2016:

vkd3d[source.winehq.org], the Direct3D 12 implementation based on Vulkan

The OpenVR and Steamworks native API bridges

Many wined3d performance and functionality fixes for Direct3D 9 and Direct3D 11

Modifications to Wine are submitted upstream if they’re compatible with the goals and requirements of the larger Wine project; as a result, Wine users have been benefiting from parts of this work for over a year now. The rest is available as part of our source code repository for Proton and its modules.

In addition to that, we’ve been supporting the development of DXVK[github.com], the Direct3D 11 implementation based on Vulkan; the nature of this support includes:

Employing the DXVK developer in our open-source graphics group since February 2018

Providing direct support from our open-source graphics group to fix Mesa driver issues affecting DXVK, and provide prototype implementations of brand new Vulkan features to improve DXVK functionality

Working with our partners over at Khronos, NVIDIA, Intel and AMD to coordinate Vulkan feature and driver support

Q: What is the performance like?

A performance difference is to be expected for games where graphics API translation is required, but there is no fundamental reason for a Vulkan title to run any slower.

Q: Are there any games that will never work with Proton?

It’s likely that some games using complex DRM or anti-cheat systems will be difficult, or even impossible to support.

Q: When will additional game titles marked as compatible with the new Steam Play?

We’ll whitelist new batches of games as testing progresses, with no set cadence. New games will be added to the system without requiring a Steam Client update.

Q: Can I try a game with Proton even if it’s not marked as compatible?

Yes; head to the Steam Play options of your Steam Client and you’ll be able to enable it for all games.

Q: Any plans for macOS support?

While Wine and Proton work on macOS, there are no plans to support the new Steam Play functionality on macOS at the moment.

Q: I’m a developer; if my game is already supporting Linux, does this change anything?

Probably not; if you’ve already ported your common code or are using an engine that supports Linux, keep doing what you’re doing, you’re good to go.

Q: I’m a developer; I wasn’t planning on targeting Linux, how can I best leverage the new Steam Play?

We recommend you target Vulkan natively in order to offer the best possible performance on all platforms, or at least offer it as an option if possible. It’s also a good idea to avoid any invasive third-party DRM middleware, as they sometimes prevent compatibility features from working as intended.

Q: I’m a developer; my game got whitelisted in Steam Play; does this mean I have to support an additional platform?

No; if a game was whitelisted as a result of our testing, we’ve assessed the experience to be identical (save for an expected moderate performance impact). Users playing through Steam Play experiencing Linux-specific issues should be directed to Steam for support. Keep in mind users were most likely already playing your game using Wine; you just have better visibility into it now.

—-

If you have any questions that aren’t answered above, head to the Steam Community and get a conversation started!
– Pierre-Loup

This map DLC expands Euro Truck Simulator 2 with our rendition of the beautiful European country Italy with its rich history, modern industry, traditional architecture, and diverse natural environments.

Players will experience the typical features of Italy from behind the wheel. Explore roads leading through the Apennines, where tunnels and bridges alternate with scenic vistas and curvy segments, opening the view to distant horizons. Descend from the height of mountain passes to the shores of the seas, travel from manicured farmland to wilder and more arid places.

The geography and shape of Italy have led to a comparatively high concentration of cities in the Italia map expansion. Local industries contain, among others, famous places like Carrara marble quarries and Europe‘s largest Steelworks in Taranto.

Main features

11,500 km of new in-game roads

19 new cities, including Rome, Napoli, Palermo

Unique new 3D-assets

Realistic junctions including ring roads around big cities

Many regional industries and companies

Typical Italian toll gates and signs

Recognizable landmarks

Typical Italian architecture

Improved vegetation for the Mediterranean climate

Interesting new cargoes added

New Italia achievements to unlock

Screenshots:

Useful links

]]>http://linuxgamingnews.org/2017/12/05/euro-truck-simulator-2-italia-dlc-released/feed/0Euro Truck Simulator 2 Update 1.30 Released!http://linuxgamingnews.org/2017/12/01/euro-truck-simulator-2-update-1-30-released/
http://linuxgamingnews.org/2017/12/01/euro-truck-simulator-2-update-1-30-released/#respondFri, 01 Dec 2017 12:24:14 +0000http://linuxgamingnews.org/?p=4936Paving the way for next week’s major map expansion release, here we are with the official Update 1.30 for Euro Truck Simulator 2. We would like to thank everyone for their participation in the Open Beta, your support was awesome as always!

The game should update automatically through Steam. If you have switched to a beta branch, don’t forget to opt out now! On the other hand, if you are concerned with mod compatibility and need to stay on the older version of the game for a time, there are still branches available on Steam giving you access to previous game versions. Update for non-Steam legacy edition of the game and VR-compatible beta build of the game may take a few additional days to get ready.

MAIN FEATURES

New Generation Scania R-Series and S-Series trucks

With almost two man-years invested in building the new vehicle models and implementing them into the game since the start of the year, this is our most detailed truck ever created.

Map improvements – city of Milano was completely remade, the whole northern part of Italy improved

We refreshed the old part of Italy which is already present in the base game to make it fit better with the quality of the upcoming Italia DLC. Consider it a sneak-peek into what it is going to be like.

Overhaul of navigation algorithms

New navigation code has been introduced in American Truck Simulator already and it is a huge change that required major programming effort and ended up being a large improvement over the old one. The navigation is now capable of sending the driver back along the same stretch of the road if need be, which may seem trivial, but it actually required a total redesign of the underlying data structures. We are looking forward to your feedback on this.

Time zones support

ETS2 now also supports time zones, which is going to be handy for further growth of the map. For now, this change will be affecting the UK only, since other ETS2 countries are in the same time zones.

ADDITIONAL CHANGES

ZF-16 transmission supporting upcoming DLC for all trucks that missed similar one

Trailers with country restrictions are towed only to services in given countries

Further polish to DAF, Volvo, and SCANIA trucks

Tons of map tweaks and fixes in the base map and older map DLCs

New luxury yacht cargo

TOOLS / MOD ACCESS

New interactive tool for environmental lighting and weather setting (included in the editor)

New interactive tool for traffic behavior and rules debugging (included in the editor)

New scene preview tool (included in the editor)

New navigation parameters in map data

Assistance service parameters in economy data

Truck scale weight costs in economic data

]]>http://linuxgamingnews.org/2017/12/01/euro-truck-simulator-2-update-1-30-released/feed/0Dominions 5 – Warriors of the Faith Released!http://linuxgamingnews.org/2017/11/27/dominions-5-warriors-of-the-faith-released/
http://linuxgamingnews.org/2017/11/27/dominions-5-warriors-of-the-faith-released/#respondMon, 27 Nov 2017 11:46:50 +0000http://linuxgamingnews.org/?p=4926In Dominions 5 you take control of a powerful being that rules a nation and aspires to godhood.

The type of Pretender Gods can vary from magically powerful arch mages to huge titans or large monuments. Dominions is a deep 4x turn based strategy game with a very large variety of spells and units.

You are a God! You are master and ruler of a loyal nation. You have unimaginable powers at your disposal. You have claimed this world as yours. But there are others who stand in your way. You must defeat and destroy these pretenders. Only then can you ascend to godhood and become the new Pantokrator.

In Dominions you take control of a powerful being that rules a nation and aspires to godhood. The type of Pretender Gods can vary from magically powerful arch mages to huge titans or large monuments. The pretender gods have different strengths dependent on what kind of god you choose and what nation you play.

When you start the game you decide what kind of god you are and how your Dominion affects your lands, followers and sacred soldiers. It is an expression of your divine might and the faith of your followers. If your dominion dies, so do you. Your dominion also inspires your sacred warriors and gives them powers derived from your dominion.

In order to win and become the one true god you have to defeat your enemies one of three different ways: conquer their lands, extinguish their dominion or claim the Thrones of Ascension.

New for Dominions 5 is that a God’s bless effects can be customized in detail giving a new set of choices for the aspiring Gods. Battles have also received a major change and now feature simultaneous movement for all participating units. Fireballs and arrows will now fly at the same time as everyone is moving and watching large battles will be quicker than before.

Dominions is set in a fantasy world that draws inspiration from historical nations, cultures and myths. You will not encounter the elves of conventional fantasy in this game. Instead you might lead a nation of vanir from old norse myth. Aztecs, romans, israelites, greeks, kievian rus and lovecraftian horrors are just a few of the inspirational sources of the game.

The first Dominions game was released in 2002 and was well received by strategy gamers. Since then Dominions has been much refined and Dominions series is still actively played making it one of the longest running 4x turn based strategy games.

New Features

Real time combat

Per unit combat logs

Design your pretender’s bless effect

Priest’s banishment and smite spells will depend on what type of god he follows

History playback when game is over, see how dominion spread and provinces changed owners

New random maps with bridges and better looking terrains

New resource system with recruitment points that encourages recruiting in highly populated areas

Fortifications built by starting at the basic type, then upgrading it later

New research queue, researching is now one school at a time

New movement system

Winter shown on map and affects movement

Dominion overlay on map to clearly show its boundaries

New retreat system, good leaders can prevent units from dispersing in all directions

Updated user interface with information more clearly presented than before

New 3d-engine with better looking terrain, huge performance increase for good graphics cards

Trailers with state-specific legal restrictions are towed only to services in given states.

AI traffic improvements

Many many hundreds of small map bug fixes – visual glitches, and speed limits

]]>http://linuxgamingnews.org/2017/11/13/american-truck-simulator-new-mexico-dlc-and-update-1-29-released/feed/0Bolt Riley – A Reggae Adventure Game On Kickstarterhttp://linuxgamingnews.org/2014/08/08/bolt-riley-a-reggae-adventure-game-on-kickstarter/
http://linuxgamingnews.org/2014/08/08/bolt-riley-a-reggae-adventure-game-on-kickstarter/#respondThu, 07 Aug 2014 21:20:49 +0000http://linuxgamingnews.org/?p=4896Bolt Riley – Chapter 1 is a reggae point and click adventure game for GNU/Linux.
This is the second attempt to fund the game trough kickstarter and this time with 35 hours left and 8k to gather, it looks like they might make it! (crossed fingers).
So we need your help to make this game a reality.
The music is just awesome and the graphics is top quality.
There is even a GNU/Linux aplha demo.

About the game
You play as Bolt Riley, a poor boy from Trenchtown, Jamaica, on his pathway to stardom.

Bolt is struggling to survive and has to deal with a gang of Rude Boys. You go through a journey of self discovery, of love, friendship, and inspiration, where you are introduced to Reggae music, you have to form your band, get inspiration, write and produce your songs and then perform them. The story consists of three parts each focusing on a different aspect of Bolt Riley’s passage into becoming a Reggae legend.

This is the true story of the underdog who breaks out and becomes a worldwide sensation.
Bolt Riley performing for the first time in front of an audience Bolt Riley performing for the first time in front of an audience

“Bolt Riley – Chapter 1” is complete game that’s part of a trilogy series. It has a self sustained story that should last a few hours of gameplay, all depends on whether you click every little thing on the screen or not, and how fast you solve the puzzles, and if you listen to every dialog line in the conversations… Getting a full indie game with hours of unique gameplay and dialog, for only $10, is not that bad.

There are only 35 hours left to fund their kickstarter campaign, so make haste!

]]>http://linuxgamingnews.org/2014/08/08/bolt-riley-a-reggae-adventure-game-on-kickstarter/feed/0Resurrect ROTC: Ethernet As Open-Source Project – One Week Left!http://linuxgamingnews.org/2014/01/25/resurrect-rotc-ethernet-as-open-source-project-one-week-left/
http://linuxgamingnews.org/2014/01/25/resurrect-rotc-ethernet-as-open-source-project-one-week-left/#respondSat, 25 Jan 2014 16:27:34 +0000http://linuxgamingnews.org/?p=4893Revenge Of The Cats: Ethernet is a free experimental online multiplayer FPS with unique gameplay: Alternate between the pure energy “ether form” and the physical manifestation called “CAT”.
Capture territory and defeat enemies using a multitude of weapons, grenades, and target-seeking discs that can be deflected and steered around corners.

The IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign to resurrect the game as a proper open-source project by re-creating it with a modern cross-platform engine already raised over $1000!
Only $452 are missing right now, and with just one week left, the creator of the game would like to encourage everyone to spread the word about the campaign, so that Revenge Of The Cats: Ethernet can join the ranks of open-source GNU/Linux games.

]]>http://linuxgamingnews.org/2014/01/25/resurrect-rotc-ethernet-as-open-source-project-one-week-left/feed/00A.D Is The Winner Of The Project Of The Month For January!http://linuxgamingnews.org/2014/01/02/0a-d-is-the-winner-of-the-project-of-the-month-for-january/
http://linuxgamingnews.org/2014/01/02/0a-d-is-the-winner-of-the-project-of-the-month-for-january/#commentsThu, 02 Jan 2014 13:23:41 +0000http://linuxgamingnews.org/?p=4852There were not as much votes as we had hoped for, and maybe some will say it was predictable, but the popular RTS game 0A.D won this month.

0 A.D. is a free, open-source, historical Real Time Strategy (RTS) game currently under development by Wildfire Games, a global group of volunteer game developers. As the leader of an ancient civilization, you must gather the resources you need to raise a military force and dominate your enemies.

“0 A.D.” is a time period that never actually existed: In the usual calendar, one goes from 1 B.C. to 1 A.D. and skips zero. This reflects the historical fiction in the game: Who would have won if all the factions were pitted against each other when each of them was at its prime?

We intend to portray some of the major civilizations over the millennium of 500 B.C. to 500 A.D. (Hence the midpoint, zero.) That is an ambitious prospect, so in the first edition of 0 A.D. we focus on the last five centuries B.C. Perhaps in future expansion packs, more civilizations will be added, along with additional gameplay features.

We put a strong emphasis on historical accuracy while developing 0 A.D. We plan all our units and all our buildings based on reconstructions of how the units and the buildings might have looked like in the ancient world. We even name them in the original languages, such as Greek and Latin. But it’s worth remembering that any game should be fun to play, so, in many cases, we preferred playability over historical accuracy.

0 A.D. is completely downloadable at no cost and always will be. No “freemium” model, no in-game advertising, no catch. This is our iron-clad guarantee.

Although you might find some people selling copies of 0 A.D. on physical media, remember, you will always have the option to download 0 A.D. gratis on the internet, directly from the developers.

0 A.D. is freely licensed software, because we believe everyone should have access to great games, and that everyone can learn from developing them. You can redistribute and modify the game as long as you abide by the GPL. And you can even use parts of the art and sound for your own projects as long as you abide by CC BY-SA.

Work on 0 A.D. began in 2001, first as a mod concept for Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. In 2003 development moved to a standalone game with its own engine, Pyrogenesis. In 2009-2010, the game was released as free, open-source software and and much of the codebase was rewritten.

As of October 2013, 0 A.D. is still in alpha phase, which means an early experimental phase. It is playable, and you can already download and test the game, but some features are still missing. When will 0 A.D. be released? It is very hard to predict. Even after we are done implementing all the features, we will want to conduct extensive beta testing, which can take a while. Information about release dates will be released at the appropriate time.

The Project of the Month was (re)created to raise awareness for individual free game projects and for the the free gaming community in general. Several websites teamed up to make this happen. The supporters of the award are: Freegamer, Linux Game Database, Rootgamer, Gamin On Linux, Linux Gaming News and Portable Linux Games. The prize for the Project of the Month is one month promotion provided by the supporting websites. Eligible are free Linux game projects. The voting process and everything else is described in more detail at the Project of the Month page. In short it consist of two stages:

nomination stage where 10 game projects are nominated by one of the award supporters and a

voting stage where the winner is decided by approval vote by the community

The first award will be Project of the Month January 2014! And the short list of 10 nominees is currently created by Freegamer. The online vote for all registered users will be opened 25th of November 2013.

The way the Project of the Month will be promoted by the award supporters will follow shortly. Stay tuned.

The Linux Game Awards team

If you want to support the Project of the Month award or have any other questions you can contact us at: mail at linuxgameawards dot org

10 games were nominated for the project of the month, you can vote till the 24th and the winning project will get free ads on the participating GNU/Linux gaming websites (including LGN).